The week went well for Walter and the Dineens. Walter decided to skip gambling that week. He also worked with Veronica on Tuesday and Thursday learning how to play the piano. Veronica and Ralph were both constantly amazed at how quickly he seemed to master the skill. Walter shrugged and said it was just simple memorization. Veronica could sit there and play a tune and Walter could exactly replicate it.
While his bust of Paige was being fired in the kiln Walter began working on a more complicated project. Michelle spent a lot of time with him those two days. She was totally fascinated by Walter's ability. He was making miniatures and she guided him on making armatures to help strengthen the clay to stand on its own. She continually marveled at how he was able to produce the exact detail he wanted in it.
Friday he received a call from Michelle letting him know the piece was out of the kiln and looked amazing. She had a special request, she wanted Walter and Paige and any other family he wanted to invite, to come in on Saturday. It was for a special program they were having for several of their artists and families who were going to have their pieces included in the art contest. She wanted Walter to unveil his bust.
Walter was nervous but agreed to mention it.
As Walter sat down for dinner Friday with the Dineens, Happy frowned at him.
"Walter, what's wrong?" Happy asked finally.
Ralph looked at Walter immediately and nodded as he noticed there seemed to be something on his mind.
"Yes, something seems to be bothering you son. What's going on?" Ralph asked.
Walter looked from them to Paige before he swallowed.
"Well, something you guys don't know that I've been doing lately. Umm…I'm taking an art class." Walter told them.
A smile sprang instantly up on Paige's face.
"Walter, that's amazing. Where?" Paige asked as she hugged him.
Walter blushed.
"Oh, the umm…Jack Frost art school. The teacher is really excited about my first piece. She wants me to enter it into an art contest in a month." Walter told them.
"That's great son, your first piece?" Ralph grinned.
Walter nodded.
"They are having a special presentation tomorrow for all the artists who are entering the contest and they wanted me to unveil my piece. They wanted any of you who would like to come to be part of it. But you don't have to go, I know you have lots of things going on." Walter told them.
"Nonsense, we'd love to come see." Veronica smiled as Ralph nodded.
"Absolutely." Ralph told him.
"Count me in." Toby spoke up as Happy nodded.
"I'm so proud of you Walter, of course I'll be there." Paige kissed his cheek.
Walter smiled seeing the tears in her eyes.
"I hope you like it." Walter told her.
"I'm sure I'll love it." Paige told him confidently. "When did you decide to do this?"
"Oh one of the talks I had with Toby." Walter said even as Toby tried to wave that off.
"Yeah he was showing me a picture of that string art he made. I just suggested he should check out some art schools. It seemed to me like he had a knack for art." Toby told them quickly, trying to minimize his part in it.
"Well regardless, this is just amazing Walter. I am so happy you decided to try this. It gets you out of your head a little more." Paige kissed him.
"Well I'm not sure about that." Walter blushed. "I mostly use my memory and hands working with clay."
"But what are you feeling while you do it?" Paige asked pointedly.
Walter looked down a moment and then looked back up at her.
"Love." Walter said simply.
"Exactly." Paige nearly crowed, even as she pulled him in and kissed him again.
"So what did you paint?" Ralph asked as they continued eating.
"Oh no, I chose to work with clay. I'm not sure if painting or anything like that is really in my abilities." Walter told them. "We'll see on my next piece, I'm going to be painting it."
"Clay, that sounds intriguing then. What did you sculpt?" Veronica asked.
"Well, it might be better to wait until you see it." Walter blushed.
"Don't be embarrassed Walter, I'm sure we're going to love it. So if you started last Friday, when did you finish it?" Paige asked.
"Monday at my second class. I've been working on another project this week. Parts of it are almost ready to be fired." Walter told them.
"Well I for one can't wait to see it." Paige grinned as she kissed him again.
"Well that isn't all our Walter has been up to this week. Your Father and I are extremely proud of him. He's been learning how to play the piano too. And he's amazing at it." Veronica told them as Walter blushed again.
"Seriously? Walter, that is so amazing of you. I can't wait to hear you play something for us." Paige told him.
"Maybe after dinner?" Toby teased.
"Yes, absolutely. Give us a little demonstration after dinner." Paige grinned.
As dinner ended they all moved into the family room where Walter sat down at the piano. Veronica winked at him and nodded.
Walter swallowed even as his hands rose up and his fingers pressed into the keys as he played the first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.
Paige sat close by marveling at the playing even as a tear escaped and ran down her cheek. She inhaled sharply a few times as he continued to play unaware of how his playing touched all of them.
As he came to the end Paige nearly knocked him off the bench as she grabbed him up and hugged him tightly as she buried her face into his neck.
"Damn Walter, you did that amazingly well if you had been practicing for a couple of months. But after only two days?" Happy sighed. "Glad I don't have to compete against you."
Walter smiled as he looked up as he still held Paige.
"You never have to compete against me." Walter said simply.
Paige pulled back a bit and kissed him. She just looked at him for a few moments.
"You know you don't have to do all this for me. I'm already yours." Paige told him softly.
"I'm just trying to broaden who I am. And reaching out to those things you like makes sense. It gives us more to connect over." Walter told her.
"Thank you." Paige smiled and nodded.
Saturday 1 pm:
"Well I want to add my thank you to all of you for coming today. Our school might be small in numbers but when it comes to talent we have an over-abundance that we as teachers simply love. So much so for our last but newest artist. Walter came to us last week to sign up to take our clay class and with little instruction he has been doing work that seasoned pros would be proud of. Walter, would you and Paige please come up here and unveil your entry for the contest?" Michelle spoke.
"I'm glad I didn't enter the contest this year, this guy is going to win it." One of the people close to Happy whispered to someone else.
Walter slowly walked up on the small platform with Paige even as the assembly gave him a polite round of applause.
Paige just grinned as Walter reached out and took hold of the sheet covering the bust. With an in-rush of air Walter pulled and the collective gasp from everyone looking was loud.
Walter's eyes were locked on Paige the entire time and he saw how they opened wider. It was easy to see tears well up even as a hand came up to her lips. Slowly she stepped closer to the podium it was placed on.
"Walter." She said faintly. "She's beautiful." Paige told him while still staring at her image. She turned quickly and captured him in her arms, hugging him fiercely.
"That's how I felt when I saw it." Michelle whispered to Jack Burns, the head of the school.
Once Paige had recovered enough to let go of him they had Walter move the bust to a more secure location so people could get a better look at it.
Veronica and Ralph both hugged Walter once the statue was moved. The small family congratulated him on his achievement as they stood there looking at it.
"I was a little hesitant about entering it into the contest without your permission at first. But Michelle told me you wouldn't mind at all." Walter told Paige.
Paige laughed as she shook head.
"No Walter, I don't mind at all. You did an amazing job. Thank you." Paige told him as she kissed his cheek.
"I don't know why I am actually a little surprised at what you did 197 but honestly I am. I didn't think it was going to be this good. I'm blown away." Toby told him as he shook his hand.
Michelle moved over and Walter introduced her to everyone.
"Walter is truly gifted with his eye, memory and coordination." Michelle told them. "And I really had no part in it. If I had the authority I'd give Walter a refund on his class."
Everyone kind of chuckled.
"So what are you working on now since this one is done?" Paige asked.
"Oh no, he's not revealing anything until it is ready. But trust me, from what he's told me and I've seen so far, you will love it." Michelle told them before Walter could speak.
Monday Sept 20th:
Walter was waiting outside of Paige's last class of the day and she grinned as she walked out and saw him. They came together and hugged tightly before they kissed.
"Are you ready for the first rehearsal?" Walter asked as they turned to walk down the hall.
"As ready as I can be, hopefully they don't try to change up the order they set." Paige told him.
As they reached the auditorium they found Toby and Happy standing in the lobby waiting for them.
"What's up guys?" Paige asked.
"We wanted to watch your first rehearsal." Happy told her kind of nodding towards Toby.
"Still trying to shrink me Toby?" Paige said amused.
"I'm always shrinking people. But this should be a good time as well as show you our support." Toby told her sincerely.
"Okay then." Paige grinned and walked on in with Walter.
"Ah Paige, so good seeing you." The director smiled. "We're almost ready to start, just waiting for Drew to get here from practice."
"Thanks again for the opportunity." Paige nodded as she sat down in one of the seats before Walter sat with her. "We're still starting with the beach scene, correct?"
"Yes we are. We will rehearse your scene with Janet and the introduction to the Pink Ladies before the song "Summer Nights". That will probably take up most of tonight's time. Make sure you jot down whatever you need on the script as we find our voice for the show. We'll be covering about one fifth of the show each night. And then next week we'll begin to work on getting all of it done in three nights. Until we get the full rehearsal down to each night a week. By week four I believe we'll be down to just two and a half hours for the full performance." The director told her.
Paige just nodded.
"Is that going to leave you enough study time?" Walter asked as he calculated everything.
"It should. Especially since I have an amazing fiancé who loves to help me understand things." Paige grinned seductively at him.
Walter blushed but nodded.
"Now you do remember he's supposed to kiss me in this beach scene right? And it isn't that I want to kiss him, it is just playing a role." Paige asked.
Walter hadn't liked the idea at all but he just nodded.
"I'll do my best not to be jealous." Walter promised to an amused Paige.
Drew showed up a few minutes later with a small entourage and he quickly greeted the director. Walter frowned as he watched. They seemed to be rather friendly.
The director called Paige over and went over the scene with them, explaining what he was looking for. They both nodded and while Paige recited the script from memory Drew was relying on a copy of the script.
Walter watched every little thing Paige did and said
Toby was watching Walter especially when the kiss came up. He saw Walter tense and then relax as the kiss ended. But Drew looked at the director.
"I'm not sure, how did that play out?" Drew asked.
"I thought it was fine. Why did you break the scene?" Paige demanded.
"Well like I said this is about capturing what we want in the show Paige. So he needs to be sure it is working." The director told her.
Paige's eyes narrowed dangerously.
The director reset the scene just before the kiss and Paige said her line and then Drew pulled her in for the kiss rather than the more polite kiss they had the first time.
Paige broke the kiss by shoving Drew back away from her.
"Do that again and I'll put you on your ass." Paige told him.
"Paige, we need to ensure the vision." The director told her.
"Well there is no need for his tongue trying to enter my mouth since no one can see it." Paige said hotly.
"Oh, uh…yes, Drew that isn't right. Lips closed." The director told him.
"Drew's about to get a knuckle sandwich ala Paige. I hope you are paying attention." Toby said as he leaned over to Walter.
"I was just trying to inspire her for the next part, Sandy being upset at Danny's move at the end of summer. What's the big deal? It isn't personal." Drew complained.
"Well clearly Paige isn't comfortable with it and it isn't in the script as such. So keep it more in line with the script." The director said while being a bit tougher.
Drew rolled his eyes but nodded as they reset and Paige recited her line again.
Drew played the part normal on the kiss but then turned to the director after Paige delivered her next line of Sandy protesting.
"See, that level of response for a little kiss on the lips? They've been hanging out all summer on the beach, a little kiss shouldn't elicit that level of response." Drew complained.
"You are forgetting the time frame the script is set in, the 50s. People were more chaste back then." The director told him.
"Yeah right, or so they want us to believe. But there isn't anything saying we have to keep it so old fashioned. Why don't we beef it up to something closer to modern time?" Drew suggested.
"Because we don't have enough time to go through the script and modernize it for one. For another it isn't the direction I want to take the play." The director explained. "Let's just play it as is."
Drew rolled his eyes but they continued until after they sang "Summer Nights".
Walter & Paige left quickly with Toby and Happy to meet up with their parents at Murphy's Pub.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well! Happy Easter if you observe it or just Happy Sunday! If you are interested, Jack Frost art school was an actual thing when I was young. The gentleman's name that ran it was Jack. lol I don't remember his last name.
JerBr - Good to see you my friend! Normally when I prep a chapter to post, I always go back and check if any comments come in before posting and last chapter I didn't do that so I missed your comments. Sorry about that. The lasting admiration of a billionaire? hehe Though I think Walter already had that. Paige did indeed love it! Thank you, I'll certainly try. I certainly look forward to you returning to writing!
Railman - Walter chose to decline commenting on after the date but did say Paige's look of love during dinner made him fall in love with her all over again. Yep, you were right about the bust! Poor Toby...yes, like Walter, Happy and Sly he's not had many friends and while he's happy to try and help Walter with his problems he's desperate for a friendship with him as well. So far things seem to be going swimmingly for the legal issue and Walter avoiding any...entanglement. (bad pun?) lol
LouBe - I thought Sen McCain did a great job myself! hehe Walter and Paige agrees, it was perfect! Paige added and extra grin and wink. And Walter refused to comment on what happened after they left Sophia's! lol Sadly it would be out of Walter's ability for a good long while to accomplish that feat. Especially since he doesn't know which universe Paige-AU 75 came from. And now you got to see her reaction and the first rehearsal...lol
Pearliegirl - lol Well thank you, so glad you enjoyed it! Even if it was a bit short for you. lol Well the good thing about your predictions, whatever happens, has already been written! lol Definitely looks like there are some problems with the play...lol I promise some surprises along the way no matter what. Thank you and Happy Easter!
Marie Mac - Boy don't the years come fast! And they just seem to keep getting faster! My theory is, when we're young our cells are so fresh and vital, they generate energy in an overabundance and so time seems to slow down. But as we age the cells aren't able to produce energy like they used to and so time seems to speed up. No plans to quit yet. lol
Susan - I agree, I think Walter should do that too. He clearly has the money to do so, so it is just a matter of taking the time to do it. Companies like seeing those letters after a person's name! Though in Richard's case, I don't think he can be anymore impressed with Walter as is. I'm not sure I'd want to know how Walter gambles...my head hurts just writing about it! lol
To the Adventure! -Tim